# Bush parties: not just in rural BC, right? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 28, 2002, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-parties-not-just-in-rural-bc-right/139365 "2002-11-28T16:37:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![KarmaComa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e36b37/32.png) [@KarmaComa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarmaComa)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2002, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-parties-not-just-in-rural-bc-right/139365/1 "2002-11-28T16:37:39Z")
So the car-b-que thread got me thinking, because I’ve got a friend from a small town on Vancouver Island who tells me that when he was in high school, they used to have (as an odd treat between bush parties) car-b-ques, where someone would light an old beater on fire and it would basically be a bonfire from a car. So anyway, my ex girlfriend took me to a bush party in Kelowna this summer (not a very small town), and of course there were the guys listening to hard rock in their pickup trucks, the fire pit filled with wooden palettes, and guys doing laps around the fire with burning beer cases on their heads. Not to mention the fact that if I wanted a non-twist-off beer opened, all I’d have to do would be to raise the beer several inches above my head and a young lady would inevitably come by and open it with her teeth. I grew up in Vancouver, so it seemed pretty weird to me, but I went to university with a lot of people from small towns in BC and it sounds pretty par for the course on a Friday night. Surely this isn’t just a BC thing… surely Montana can outdo us on bush parties? Maybe I’m looking for stories… maybe this would be better in another forum. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2002, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-parties-not-just-in-rural-bc-right/139365/2 "2002-11-28T16:51:50Z")
I would think the burning of an old car for the purpose of entertainment to be rather hazardous. Besides the nasty stuff in the smoke, you would get the low level toxins at ground level. These are given off the paint, plastics and fabrics just before these items catch on fire. I attended some fairly wild parties in my younger days in Western Washington, just south of you, and I never saw any cars torched on purpose. ---
**Author:** ![KarmaComa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e36b37/32.png) [@KarmaComa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarmaComa)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2002, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-parties-not-just-in-rural-bc-right/139365/3 "2002-11-28T16:57:11Z")
Yeah… well in Port Alberni, a mill town, I’m sure they made sure that any environmentalists that were kicking around were in the car when they set it on fire! How’s that for nasty stuff in the smoke? I don’t think a car-b-que rates that high on the Port Alberni dysfunctionometer… they do have deep fried bread there though! ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2002, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-parties-not-just-in-rural-bc-right/139365/4 "2002-11-28T18:16:40Z")
Bush parties in Ontario = yes. Burning a car? No! There’s a lot of nasty stuff in car upholstery! Besides that, if your fire’s too big, the police will be able to find you. (They don’t like bush bashes because it’spretty guaranteed that a good portion of the revellers are drunken minors.) ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2002, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-parties-not-just-in-rural-bc-right/139365/5 "2002-11-28T18:55:24Z")
OK, I fell behind. Why is it called a ‘bush party’? And what differentiates a regular night of drinking and trying to hook up from one? ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2002, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-parties-not-just-in-rural-bc-right/139365/6 "2002-11-28T18:58:31Z")
Bush is a word, at least in Canada, meaning “out in the woods.” If you are going into “the bush,” you are going out of town into a forest or something like that. So if you hold a party way out of town in some field or in the forest, you’re holding a bush party. Bush parties are pretty common here in Ontario. They’re also a major source of drunk driving fatalities and alcohol poisoning cases. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2002, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-parties-not-just-in-rural-bc-right/139365/7 "2002-11-28T19:02:27Z")
JC, it’s a “bush” party, because, in my limited experience, it’s usually a bunch of underage kids sneaking off “into the bush” to get wasted. Common in Maple Ridge in the seventies. Maple Ridge sure has changed. No car fires. ---
**Author:** ![Rodd\_Hill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3ab097/32.png) [@Rodd\_Hill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodd_Hill)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2002, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-parties-not-just-in-rural-bc-right/139365/8 "2002-11-28T19:30:24Z")
Jeez, **Larry Mudd** , you weren’t up on Thorn Hill back about 78 or 79? Or did you get locked in Golden Ears Park after 11? MRSS '79… ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2002, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-parties-not-just-in-rural-bc-right/139365/9 "2002-11-28T19:36:09Z")
OK, that makes sense. I had visions of someone lighting a bush on fire and popping a keg or something. It seemed less than awe-inspiring. ---
**Author:** ![KarmaComa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e36b37/32.png) [@KarmaComa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarmaComa)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2002, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-parties-not-just-in-rural-bc-right/139365/10 "2002-11-28T20:07:39Z")
I have yet to see evidence of this happening outside of Ontario or… heh heh… Cascadia. Any testimonials? ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2002, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-parties-not-just-in-rural-bc-right/139365/11 "2002-11-28T21:03:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jonathan Chance \* > \*\*OK, that makes sense. > > I had visions of someone lighting a bush on fire and popping a keg or something. It seemed less than awe-inspiring. \*\* _I_ had visions of our president sneaking off to Canada to get drunk, but I guess not. ---
**Author:** ![KarmaComa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e36b37/32.png) [@KarmaComa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarmaComa)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2002, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-parties-not-just-in-rural-bc-right/139365/12 "2002-11-28T21:25:41Z")
I guess that would be the Bush twins, but they don’t need to come to Canada to get (legally) drunk anymore, do they? ---
**Author:** ![bare](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bare/32/471_2.png) [@bare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bare)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2002, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-parties-not-just-in-rural-bc-right/139365/13 "2002-11-28T21:47:10Z")
Here in Idaho we hold annual mid-winter bush parties where in we cross country ski into the back country dig a shelter, wait for the full moon to rise and light a snag (preferably a dead Alpine Fir with lots of branches) an awe inspiring sight. We tend towards good wine though, as it’s damn hard to get back onto your skis with a keg on your back. No minors welcome. ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2002, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-parties-not-just-in-rural-bc-right/139365/14 "2002-11-28T22:51:03Z")
This kind of thing happens all the time in rural Saskatchewan. I went to more of these in HS than I can remember. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2002, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-parties-not-just-in-rural-bc-right/139365/15 "2002-11-28T23:18:02Z")
There may be a factual answer to the question, but I interpret this mostly as a poll (as in “Do you have bush parties where you live?”), so I’ll move this thread to IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![KarmaComa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e36b37/32.png) [@KarmaComa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarmaComa)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2002, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-parties-not-just-in-rural-bc-right/139365/16 "2002-11-28T23:53:29Z")
Well I was just talking to my friend from Winnipeg… you KNOW if anyone knows bush parties it’s him. He knew bush parties well, and when I asked him about car-b-ques, he said “nope, but I’ve been to a couple where we burned a broken old snowmobile!” I thought this was much more rural. ---
**Author:** ![chique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2002, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-parties-not-just-in-rural-bc-right/139365/17 "2002-11-29T00:07:31Z")
Here the kids have gravel pit parties. Stupid idea. Most gravel pits have only one road going in and out - if the cops show up you can’t leave. Much better to use someone’s secluded back 40. Not that _I_ ever threw a party like that on the land we own back by the river… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2002, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-parties-not-just-in-rural-bc-right/139365/18 "2002-11-29T01:21:32Z")
Never actually been to one myself\*… but I have heard of them. They happen out here in good ole Alberta. [sub]\*I was too geeky, not part of the ‘in’ crowd, to ever be invited to one. I don’t think I’m missing too much though.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Fornit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c89c15/32.png) [@Fornit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fornit)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2002, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-parties-not-just-in-rural-bc-right/139365/19 "2002-11-29T02:05:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by racer72 \* > \*\*I would think the burning of an old car for the purpose of entertainment to be rather hazardous. Besides the nasty stuff in the smoke, you would get the low level toxins at ground level. These are given off the paint, plastics and fabrics just before these items catch on fire. \*\* Growing up in Prince George, BC, a mid/large sized town in northern BC, which has several pulp mills, I can attest that the crap emanating from a burning car is probably not that much worse than all the effluent floating around the town from all the pulp mills. Just a bunch of drunk kids trying to ingest a new flavour of dioxin they haven’t had yet. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![KarmaComa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e36b37/32.png) [@KarmaComa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarmaComa)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2002, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-parties-not-just-in-rural-bc-right/139365/20 "2002-11-29T03:02:05Z")
Yes. PG is well-recognized as being a bush-party-type town, too. They have a hell of a Denny’s though. The one thing I couldn’t figure out is, on the way from Vancouver to Ft. St. John, is PG the last trace of civilization, or the first firm evidence that you long ago left civilization behind? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-parties-not-just-in-rural-bc-right/139365.md?page=2)